We finished harvest on Tuesday, October 9, bringing in Whistling Dog's 2012 crop; without a drop of rain during the entire harvest; with daytime highs in the low- to mid-70's, and night time lows in the upper-30's to low-40's - absolutely perfect ripening conditions. Over the course of the final week of the season, sugar development slowed way down, pH's moved into the "just right" range, and flavors came on strong. The only downsides to this year's harvest were Yields and Pickers: yields being nearly half of "normal"; and pickers being few available.
But, the quality of the grapes is outstanding. During the week prior to harvest we hand-culled all unripe berries on the clusters destined for our winery, this, combined with absolutely zero rot and ideal grape characteristics, promises to make a beautiful Pinot vintage.
We have never had more perfect grapes on the sorting line, pulling out less than a cup of unripe/damaged berries for the 6 tons we brought in.
